The Top Website Analytics Metrics You Should Be Tracking

Measuring is one thing, but what you measure is the important part and is what can make the difference.

If you don’t track some core KPIs (key performance indicators), you may only be looking at half of the story.

On the other hand, if you track every possible thing, you may be wasting your time. Not to mention, are you even interpreting all of that data or just adding it to a spreadsheet?

This list includes the core website analytics metrics you should be tracking. Measure these data points on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis. If you’re starting from scratch, try going back at least two years or as much as your data will allow. This will determine baselines and allow you to analyze year over year changes.

Note that some of these measures are only relevant for eCommerce websites and others only for lead generation websites. Some websites may have other very specific items that are tracked, such as the number of leads that come from a specific button or page. These are the core KPIs, not a full list.

Compare Returning Visitor Revenue to New Visitor Revenue to determine which segment converts better, and which may deserve more of your focus

Bounce Rate

Percentage of visitors who left the site from the entrance page

Compare this to the Average Time Spent on Page to determine if visitors are reading your content on that page, even if they are not diving deeper into your site to other pages

Conversion

Rate at which your visitors are converting = Transactions ÷ Visits

Look at Conversation Rates per Channel (organic, paid, direct, email, referral) to determine where you might be getting the most bang for your buck and where you should consider spending more of your budget

Consider Cart Abandonment Rate to help examine your check-out process. You may determine your site is easy to use and customers add products to their cart, but something during checkout is making it difficult to convert

Leads (Conversion for Non-eCommerce Websites)

Rate at which your visitors are converting = Leads ÷ Visits

In this case, conversions are measured in leads, not transactions

Be sure to define what a quality lead is for your business and what will constitute a hard vs. soft lead

A soft lead may be a website download whereas a hard lead may be a request for information submitted in a website form

The same analysis of Conversion Rate per Channel can also be done here

Average Order Value (AOV)

Average value of a customer’s total order

Average Order Quantity: the average quantity of products purchased in an order. Depending on the type of products you sell, this can reveal areas for improvement

Revenue

Total dollar amount earned

Revenue per Channel (organic, paid, direct, email, referral): the amount of revenue brought in by each channel. This helps you determine where you should spend the bulk of your time – your revenue “winners”

Revenue per Visit (RPV): the amount of revenue generated by each visit to your site (revenue ÷ visits). This determines the value of each visit to your site